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Glite Dictionary
side of meat

side of meat

5.5
A large half of an animal prepared and sold for eating
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : costilla
  • She cooked a delicious roast using a side of meat from the local farm.

Examples

  • In the market, various cuts of side of meat were available, each labeled with its price.

  • The side of meat nearest the fire glowed eerily red.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The scarlet sides of meat hanging in the window affronted Beth.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The butcher displayed fresh side of meat on the counter, drawing the attention of passing customers.

Synonyms

side
vsside of meat
  • Specialized
267 7.2

One lengthwise half of an animal prepared for meat

is a longer, descriptive phrase that explicitly names the food

Surface Forms

side of meat singular
sides of meat plural

Morphology

side + of + meat

The noun phrase is compositionally built from 'side' (a portion or half) + 'of' (linking) + 'meat' (animal flesh), so its meaning as a portion/half of a carcass is directly inferable from the constituents. This is a common, cross-linguistic partitive construction and, despite the slightly specialized sense of 'side' in butchery, a B1 learner who knows the individual words would readily understand it.

Etymology

The noun side of meat comes from the butcher's shop. When a butcher cuts an animal in half from head to tail, each big piece is a side of meat. They hang or age these whole sides before cutting them smaller, so the phrase means 'a large half of an animal prepared for food'.